Patient non-adherence to prescribed medication regimens is high, with non-adherence rates among geriatric patients ranging 40-75% according to several studies. Multiple factors contribute to non-adherence including visual, auditory, and cognitive impairments, as well as poly-pharmacy, poly-providers, and visit and refill compliance. Drugs not taken, or taken incorrectly, incur the same healthcare costs as fully adherent regimens, but without the expected medical outcome. One recent study reported that non-adherence to medication regimens accounted for 18% of hospitalizations in the elderly. In addition to the needs of the elderly, the identification and documentation requirements for medication administration in schools, workplaces and assisted living facilities have increased. As such, many attempts have been made to provide prescription reminder systems and methods as well as medication delivery systems for patients who may benefit from monitored medication dispensing. For example, systems are known which provide patients with alert devices to remind patients of when to take medication, and how much medication to take. In addition, there are various systems that protect patients from overdosage and underdosage and attempt to improve patient compliance using such devices as unit dose containers, timing mechanisms, and sensors to detect patient use. These interventions may require labor-intensive filling and monitoring as well as on-site reprogramming to allow for interval changes in medical regimen. Positive identification of the medication in the dispensing unit from pharmacy to point of use would be more desirable.
A preferred system would also include patient identification information that may be read by a medication dispensing unit or provider. The medication-dispensing unit may then dispense the appropriate allowance of medication to the matched recipient at an appropriate time under microprocessor control. Such dispensing units could be remote from a main unit of a health care provider, such as a physician, hospital or other health care provider. The health care provider may communicate with the patient through the dispensing unit to provide prescription information, drug interaction information, dosing change and other feedback as desired. The software programs to provide such control exist in the public domain, and have been used by institutions to monitor safety and compliance. However, the dispensing units employed are geared to high volume institutional use.
Prior home dispensing systems typically are not readily portable, and do not provide a relative cost effective and easy mechanism to dispense medication. Filling and refilling may require in-home assistance. Transfer of medication from a pharmacy or provider-labeled containers may be required, introducing the possibility of medication identification errors. Also, conventional systems do not match the identities of the prescriptions to the patient. For example, they do not typically verify that the patient receiving the medication is the suitable recipient of the prescribed medication. Consequently, there exists a need for an improved portable medication dispensing apparatus and method.